Montville — A wise guy sportswriter once said that soccer is the only game where the coach can get his (or her) 100th tie before the 100th win.

(Heh, heh heh).

Except that, you know, maybe there's some wisdom peeking through the sarcasm. Take the case of the girls' soccer team at Newtown High School this season: Six wins, one loss and seven ties thus far. No, really. Seven ties in 14 games. You almost giggle at the idea of Queen singing the line, "no time for losers, 'cause we are the co-champions ... of the world."

Then there's the almost equally curious case at St. Bernard, where the girls tied three times in their first 10 games. The Saints are 6-4-3 now but have all their ties in the division. This just in: The kids don't want to tie anybody. They want to win. Or at least have the chance to compete for an outright division title.

Here's my two cents about sporting events that end in ties: I'd rather lose. At least I'd know what to feel. At least I knew I took a shot and it wasn't good enough. It might give me a list of things to improve. Teach a lesson about resilience. And I'll also know that winning will be more joyful the next time around, after having experienced the pain of defeat.

It's better than feeling nothing at all.

Here are the kids:

St. Bernard's Carlie Potts: "All the ties we had, I feel like the games were incomplete. It's annoying, too, when you don't play them again. There's no way to know who's better."

Caroline Codner: "I feel like a tie is worse than a loss. The game feels unfinished. It's so hard knowing you worked so hard — even a loss is bad that way — but it's harder tying. We had a game live-streamed (on theday.com) earlier this year. We tied 0-0. We were like 'really?' No one won, no one lost. Kind of like 'blah.'"

Victoria Hannaford: "The three games we've tied have all been in division. You can't tell who the best team is. The same three teams keep tying. At some point, we need to go into overtime. I get the EEE (mosquito) thing, but maybe start the games earlier so we can have time for overtime or penalty kicks."

Ah, penalty kicks. Permissible in the state semifinals. But in the state championship game? Nah. Co-champs, lest we risk scarring someone for life over a miss.

Never got that. Are we truly fearful that kids who might miss a shot, or the goalie who fails to make the save, are going to crumble and become shut-ins for the foreseeable future?

This just in: It won't be the last time in their lives they will bear the responsibility of something important, bear some responsibility for others around them. And it'll be responsibility and accountability for things considerably more important than goals and saves. Sports are supposed to teach some lessons along the way. And shielding kids serves no purpose, other than making them softer, weaker and less prepared for self-sufficiency.

"I missed (a penalty kick) last year in a division game," Hannaford said. "I was upset about it for a little bit, but it didn't last."

Codner: "Your team should be supportive. If one of us missed and lost the game, anyone could have a bad shot. If it happens, your team should be there for you. That's the whole point of team sports. Nobody on the team has a right to be mad because anyone can make a mistake."

So, what say you ECC: At least give us the golden goal. What say you state soccer committee: No ties in the state finals. Because what we have now is not sports. This is legislated competition. In sports, you leave the field with discernible emotions, good and bad.

"I think the right answer is overtime with a golden goal," St. Bernard coach Shane Clarke said. "Play however long that takes. Two minutes, five minutes or 50. Play till somebody scores. Life doesn't protect you in the way we're teaching the kids right now. Go out into the business world and if you don't do what you're supposed to do, there are repercussions. So, learn that toughness early. It's part of the benefit of sports. You learn to deal with setback. And there's nowhere else you'll get setbacks more often than in sports."

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro